The establishment of a new campus by the University of São Paulo in a peripheral area of São Paulo city, Brazil, is analyzed as an empirical case of the tensions between the organizational conception and the institutional particularities of the university, revealing the internal contradictions of the concept of ‘organization’ as applied to universities. Based on this, we explain the conflicts that opposed university professors and leaders during the implementation of a school created to promote the local socioeconomic development. The case also shows the influence of the Brazilian political culture on shaping the globalizing process of academic change.
University; Organizacional theory; University management; Reform of higher education
